OKMULGEE COUNTY, Okla. — The Silver Alert issued for 76-year-old Great Bend resident Donald Lee Walters by the Okmulgee County, Okla., Sheriff’s Office remains open, said OCSO Sgt. Aaron Swayze.

Authorities say Walters went missing on July 10 from Great Bend and that he suffers from Alzheimer’s.

Swayze said Walters’ vehicle was located near the Okmulgee and McIntosh County Line near the Eufaula Wildlife Management Area, east of Henryetta. Also found were some of his personal belongings.

“We did a large-scale search of  the area,” he said. They believed Walters to be on foot in the area at the time of his disappearance, but there has been no sign of him yet.

Police described Walters as a 76-year-old white male. He is 5 feet, seven inches tall and weighs 135 pounds, with grey hair and blue eyes.

Anyone who sees Walters is asked to call 911 or the Okmulgee County Sheriff’s Office at 918-756-4311.

According to information from the Barton County Historical Society, after earning his PhD from Kansas State University in 1971, Walters worked with the U.S. Army Atmospheric Sciences Laboratory and taught and conducted research at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. As a Professor in the Department of Physics & Space Systems Academic Group, he specialized in research into atmospheric optics, laser propagation and measurement, and modeling of the adaptive optics of atmospheric turbulence. 

He has also served as a member of the Atmospheric Working Group for the USAF Airborne Laser and with the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Science and Technology) Joint Committees on High Energy Lasers/Atmospheric Propagation and Beam Control.